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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mixed Feelings: Theories Of And Evidence On Giving, James Konow
Mixed Feelings: Theories Of And Evidence On Giving, James Konow
Economics Faculty Works
This paper examines possible motives and institutional factors that impact giving. Specifically, I consider alternative theories parallel to dictator experiments that generate evidence on both allocation decisions and their effect on feelings. A number of new empirical findings as well as new interpretations for previously reported findings result. A novel test distinguishes warm glow from impure altruism and rules out the former as the sole motive for giving. Very generous donations to charities that aid the needy (with modal gifts of the entire dictator’s stakes) cannot be attributed to familiarity with the charities. A charity that offers a matching grant …
Is Fairness In The Eye Of The Beholder?: An Impartial Spectator Analysis Of Justice, James Konow
Is Fairness In The Eye Of The Beholder?: An Impartial Spectator Analysis Of Justice, James Konow
Economics Faculty Works
A popular sentiment is that fairness is inexorably subjective and incapable of being determined by objective standards. This study, on the other hand, seeks to establish evidence on unbiased justice and to propose and demonstrate a general approach for measuring impartial views empirically. Most normative justice theories associate impartiality with limited information and consensus. In both the normative and positive literature, information is usually seen as the raw material for self-serving bias and disagreement. In contrast, this paper proposes a type of impartiality that is associated with a high level of information and that results in consensus. The crucial distinction …
Social Preferences And Moral Biases, Rachel Croson, James Konow
Social Preferences And Moral Biases, Rachel Croson, James Konow
Economics Faculty Works
A consensus seems to be emerging in economics that at least three motives are at work in many strategic decisions: distributive preferences, reciprocal preferences and self-interest. An important obstacle to this research, however, has been moral biases, i.e., the distortions created by self-interest that can obscure our measures of social preferences. Among other things, this has led to disagreement about the relative importance of self-interest, distributive and reciprocal preferences. This paper describes a simple experiment that decomposes behavior into these three forces. We compare the decisions of implicated “stakeholders” with those of impartial “spectators,” who have no stake. Several surprising …
Blind Spots: The Effects Of Information And Stakes On Fairness Bias And Dispersion, James Konow
Blind Spots: The Effects Of Information And Stakes On Fairness Bias And Dispersion, James Konow
Economics Faculty Works
Mounting empirical research provides evidence of fairness bias and its economic and social effects, where fairness bias refers here to a deviation of claims from unbiased justice due to a personal stake. A far less appreciated issue is dispersion of fairness views and claims, which is also important for its effects on disagreements, empirical analysis, and philosophical theories. This study undertakes a systematic analysis of the effects on fairness bias and dispersion of two variables: stakes and information. Most philosophical and social science analyses related to justice and bias associate heightened bias with increased information and, conversely, impartiality with the …
Fair Shares: Accountability And Cognitive Dissonance In Allocation Decisions, James Konow
Fair Shares: Accountability And Cognitive Dissonance In Allocation Decisions, James Konow
Economics Faculty Works
No abstract provided.